"In some cases these practices caused financial loss to customers, many of whom were already in financial difficulties."
WPPL is a consumer credit firm that provides payday loans under the trading names 'Payday Overdraft', ‘Wage payday’ and ‘Doshloans’.
The FCA said that Andrew Barry Hart is "not a fit and proper person because he lacks integrity and competence". In the FCA’s view, between 1 April 2014 and 28 August 2014, he took a reckless approach to managing WPPL and to complying with regulatory requirements.
In a statement, the FCA said: "Mr Hart recklessly contributed to and failed to address unfair business practices carried on by WPPL. Mr Hart failed to take reasonable steps to implement appropriate policies and procedures relating to creditworthiness, affordability and forbearance.
"He also failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that WPPL had appropriate systems in place to communicate with customers, to ensure that customer complaints were dealt with adequately, to provide proper oversight of WPPL’s staff and to ensure that WPPL’s loan agreements complied with regulatory requirements.
"Mr Hart’s failings had a direct impact on WPPL’s customers, who were often treated unfairly and were frequently misled. Customer complaints were commonly disregarded, and excessive sums were taken out of some customers’ bank accounts. In some cases these practices caused financial loss to customers, many of whom were already in financial difficulties."
Andrew Barry Hart and WPPL dispute the FCA’s decisions and have referred their cases to the Upper Tribunal.
